Hearts pay dispute: SPL under fire for taking action over brief wages delay at Hearts
The Hearts players were said to be happy with the situation as they were receiving wages, but former chairman Leslie Deans, below, is flabbergasted by the SPL's decision. Photos: Jane Barlow & Alan Harvey
THE Scottish Premier League’s decision to charge Hearts over its alleged late payment of players’ salaries has left former Hearts chairman Leslie Deans “flabbergasted”.
Last night Deans received the backing of Hearts striker Kevin Kyle, who said the players had been paid and could not see why the SPL wanted to press ahead with action.
The Tynecastle club has been charged with “failing to behave with the utmost good faith to the SPL” over the payment of players’ salaries for January. Hearts insist they processed payments on the afternoon of Monday 16, the due date, but the SPL say that the terms of their ruling on 4 January were not met, as not all the players got money into their bank accounts on time. Deans said that, when Hearts were clearly doing their best to pay their staff, he could not understand why the SPL should take issue over a matter of a few hours. “I am flabbergasted by that,” he said. “Are they seriously suggesting they would take action against a member club because some payments were a few hours late? Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
“If players were being evicted from their homes or their families were starving because they had no money you could see the point. But taking action at this time beggars belief.
“Are the SPL not aware there is an economic crisis? There is a battle going on at Tynecastle to stabilise the finances, and this threatened action is not going to help at all.”
Kyle was one of 14 players who complained to their union, PFA Scotland, after their salaries were late for the third month running. It was that complaint which led to the SPL’s 4 January ruling, but the forward said the issue has been settled as far as the players were concerned.
“Us as the players are happy with the situation,” he told the BBC. “We’ve got our wages and that’s all we were asking for.
“It has been a difficult period, there’s no denying that – 14 of us made a complaint to the PFA to try to find out what was happening because we weren’t getting any answers. Nobody was telling us exactly what was happening. It was all a guessing game.
“I think we got a group call on Friday to say the funds had been secured and we would be paid. The club said what they were going to do and we’ve been paid, so I don’t see any problems with it. As a group, we decided we’ll make this complaint and try to get somebody to find out what is happening. That got processed, the SPL made a statement, the wages arrived and, for me personally and the rest of the lads at the club, that’s the end of the matter. That’s the club assured us that we’ll get our wages on time and they will continue.”
But the governing body remains convinced that it has evidence from Hearts themselves of the club’s failure to comply with the league’s instructions. “The SPL has received confirmation from Heart of Midlothian that the club has failed to comply with this order,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The SPL yesterday refused to say what kind of confirmation it had received. Hearts insist they have said nothing in their dealings with the league which would amount to an admission of guilt.
The SPL’s charge will now be ruled upon, at least in the first instance, by a sub-committee of its board. The membership of that sub-committee has yet to be appointed, and while any or all members of the SPL board could sit on it, others who hold no official posts with any member club could also be invited.
The SPL has also yet to decide whether the sub-committee will have the power to rule on the charge, or will only be allowed to advise the board on the course of action it thinks appropriate.
Whether it is the sub-committee or the board which makes the ruling, a wide range of sanctions is available, including fines, transfer bans and points deductions. A senior SPL source insisted yesterday that, despite one report claiming that a points deduction was the most likely outcome, there was no way anyone could know what would be decided by a sub-committee which had not even been appointed, far less heard any evidence.
Even so, staff at Hearts remain perplexed about the apparent hardline stance being taken against them over an alleged few hours’ delay in paying salaries by an organisation which took no action in October and November when payments were weeks late.
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Comments
There are 147 comments to this article
Page 1 of 10
GEO123
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 11:48 PM145. No, are you Boris Johnston?
jerrymanders
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 10:50 PMThese players were the same ones squealing but a month or two ago! Wait until near the end of the season, that should be interesting.
The Yak Farmer
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 09:41 PM138 - WTF ... are you Richard Stilgoe ?
The Yak Farmer
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 09:39 PM140 - Yes Lord Sausage. Indeed, the gossip round Barton way is that you adore the CHAPS.
Portsmouth 657
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 08:38 PM#142 You thought that was a joke. Now that is funny
JaimeDLG
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 08:34 PM~139 Duke of Cumberland............................................................... ....................................... Somehow you have missed the point of the joke.
JaimeDLG
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 08:32 PMReally dont know what all the fuss is about..... Romonov has paid the wages... albeit later rather than earlier....... are the players happy.... sound like YES from them...... and they dont want Hearts punished in any form.....so thats it .... but they now cant complain if it happens again.....lets forget about it and get both teams real problems sorted out.
Portsmouth 657
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 08:09 PM#136 Do your sort still use cheques? In the modern world we use Bacs, FP, Chaps etc...How quaint.
Portsmouth 657
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 08:06 PM#136 Do you speak English also? Or are nursery rhymes better suited to your age group?
GEO123
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 07:38 PM136. Did you know that an anagram of THE YAK FARMER is AHM REKEY FARTER also, apologies to 137. who thought that the standard of posts had risen.
Violet Carson
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 07:31 PMI have been away for a while and am just catching up. Is it a mirage or has the standard of posts gone up. I notice that TOTT posted earlier. Are we now ignoring him - I believe all would be better if we did? Is the lack of abuse because of this?
The Yak Farmer
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 06:51 PM134 - 135 ... Don't you just love a paranoid siege mentality, girls ? I'd love to stop and talk but I've just dropped off a cheque at the garage for the new Maserati. The salesman said it doesn't matter when the cheque clears, as long as I've dropped it off that's as good as paid in his eyes. Ain't that great, girls? As far as he's concerned the cars mine the moment I dropped off the cheque! Ooooooh ducky!
Portsmouth 657
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 06:08 PMi predict that even a Hearts win on Saturday the headline from the media monkeys will be "Ongoing Wage Crisis"
Voice from the Stand
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 06:03 PMAnother day another HEARTS story. Bring on the Incoherent, Inferiority Boys. Lack of interest in the HOBO posts draws them to our success in the face of adversity! Bring it on!!!!!!!!!
Tightfisted
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 05:48 PMComment removed by moderator
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